DIY Reversible Summer / 4th of July Blocks

We  had a craft day at church the other weekend and I was in charge of this craft.  Perfect for a summer time display.  It is super cute and super easy to make.

You need 7 blocks.  I think we had 2x4's cut into the following sizes (you don't have to be exact):

6 blocks cut to 2.5" by 4"

and 1 block cut at 2" by 6"

The blocks were sanded and left as is for our project, but you could stain or paint them if you wanted.

Then we used patriotic and summer colored scrapbook paper cut to fit inside the blocks.  6 patriotic colored papers and 6 summer colored papers were cut to 2 1/8th" by 3.5".  One patriotic paper and one summer paper was cut to 1 3/8" by 5.5".  

Vinyl lettering was cut out using my Silhouette machine and applied to each paper.

Then the paper was Mod Podged to the blocks.  I just applied Mod Podge to the block and then smoothed the paper on top.  You could also apply Mod Podge over the paper for a more durable or shinier finish.

I love a 2 for 1 decoration.  I have mine turned to summer right now but when July rolls around, I'll flip it to the patriotic side and then flip it back to summer to use until school starts.

The idea was found HERE and the possibilities are endless.  You could make these for Easter/Spring, Winter/Valentine's Day, or any holiday and season.  I love a simple, easy and versatile craft. 

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Garage Door Makeover for under $12

Since moving into our new home almost 10 months ago, we have made a couple of changes.  One of the easiest and cheapest was to give our garage door a little makeover.  

I thought our garage door looked a bit plain and could use a little something to dress it up. 

It's a 2 car garage door so it's wide plus all that white = boring.

A quick Pinterest search and I discovered you could add some hardware like handles and hinges to dress it up.  

(P.S.  I'm also eyeing up some new bigger and darker outdoor lights to add more contrast and interest.  Those little silver lights just aren't doing it for me.  You know how one project leads to another, right.)

And the best part, they were magnetic.  No need to drill holes or screw anything into the garage door itself.  Doesn't get any easier than that.  

The even better part, was that they were just under $12!  I couldn't buy them fast enough.  I love how they add a bit of interest to an otherwise boring expanse of white.

Here's the link so you can dress up your garage doors too!

(Update:  We've had them on our garage door for a few weeks now and there have been no issues.  They have stayed put through the wind and rain and with the door being opened and closed.  I would suggest not letting your little ones see you put them on.  My 4 year old knows they are magnetic so every once in a while I notice the handles have been moved.  Luckily it's an easy fix to put back into place.)

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DIY Word Art for Girls

As mentioned in my last post it's been 9 months since we moved to our new home.  My two girls are no longer sharing a room so I have two girly rooms to decorate.  My youngest loves all things glittery gold and pink.  She requested a pink and gold unicorn room.  I'm happy to report that I'm almost done.  There are a few little things I want to do/make but for the most part, it's done.  Since we reused zero of the art/pictures from their shared horse themed bedroom, she needed some new art on her walls.  We browsed through Pinterest to see what I could make.  

She liked these two ideas:

They are sold on Etsy (HERE and HERE), but I knew I could make them cheaper.  Here are my versions:

I used 12 x 16 canvas boards and spray painted them with Krylon "ballet slipper" pink spray paint.  Then I just cut out and applied the vinyl.  I used a bright vinyl sampler pack for the first wall art and a glitter gold vinyl for the second wall art.  I hung them up with Command Strips.  (Amazon affiliate links provided for your convenience in case you want to make these too.  I receive a small commission when you purchase from my site.  Thank you.)

   

They were pretty easy to make except for the part where my vinyl didn't want to come off the paper backing.  That gold glittery vinyl was a pain to work with.  Other than that, it was a quick and easy way to customize her room.  I'm pleased with how it turned out and can't wait to show you the rest of her room including how I got away with not having to paint her walls pink yet her room still looks pink!  

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Caulk for a Smooth Finish

The other day I did a little project that makes a big difference in how 'finished' a room looks.  The caulk between the baseboard and shoe molding in our laundry room was cracking and separating.  It didn't look pretty.  Luckily we had some caulk on hand from a recent home repair, so I quickly fixed it.  

The picture below shows how the shoe molding is separating from the baseboard.  

Here's a better view so you can really see how the caulk is split and dust is getting trapped in there.  That was after I vacuumed it.  

Before I caulked, I made sure to prep the area by not only vacuuming up any dust but also wiping the baseboard and molding to get rid of any more dust and dirt hiding in there.  

After applying the caulk at a 45° angle, I used a wet finger to smooth it in.

In the photo above you can see to the right of my hand, the caulk that has been smoothed compared to the freshly laid caulk on the left.

And here's another close up.  A much more polished look.  

What a difference. 

I didn't want to stop there.  I checked the bathrooms and did some more caulking.  The kids bathroom looked like the shoe molding was never caulked to the baseboard.  So I caulked that too.

I'm on a roll.  Maybe I'll get some other little projects done soon too.  The little projects are the best since they don't take up too much time.  But those are also the ones I tend to procrastinate on.  Anyone else getting spring fever and starting some spring cleaning / home repair?

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Updating Kitchen Cabinets

Last month the kids had a week off of school for winter break.   My husband still had to work, but the kids and I spent the week visiting my parents and sister in MD.  Not only was it fun to spend time with family, but I got to do a couple of DIY projects.  

My parents likes to keep their house updated and my mom usually has a project done every year.  Some years it's an easy/inexpensive update such as repainting a few rooms, and other years the updates are more intense like when they had their master bathroom remodeled.  

For the past few years, she has been debating on updating the kitchen.  Should have the cabinets painted white or get new cabinets?  Then what about the counters, and appliances?  It could be quite a costly update.  So in the meantime, I suggested we update the look by changing out the kitchen cabinet hardware.  

Here is what she started with.  We didn't take a close up of the knobs but even from this picture you can tell they are outdated.  The knobs she had before were from the early 90's and no longer matched the paint and tile in the kitchen.  They are brass knobs with ceramic centers that have county blue flowers on them.  The country blue phase has passed and since her kitchen walls are no longer blue these things stuck out like a sore thumb.  

The new knobs are bronze with copper highlights and work great with the other dark brown accents in the area such as the bronze pendant light above the kitchen sink and the dark brown in the tile back splash.  If you want to use these same knobs for an easy update in your home, here's the amazon affiliate link to them:  HERE and HERE.

Changing out the knobs was also a great time to finally give those kitchen cabinets a good scrub down.  The finished result is a more modern look for very little cost.  And if she wants to have the cabinets painted or buy new cabinets altogether, the knobs can be reused.  

Sometimes it's totally worth it do to a project in phases.  While you save up for the full remodel or are still unsure as to what you want, a "phase 1" project can tide you over.  Plus it looks good in the meantime.  

John and Sherry Petersik from YOUNG HOUSE LOVE explain more about "phase 1" projects in there post:

Are "Phase 1" projects just a wast of money & time?

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Basement Stairs Makeover

Last April my husband took a new job that required us to relocate.  We weren't planning to move so we had a lot of work to do before listing our house for sale.  After living in a house for 12 years with 4 kids, there were plenty of small maintenance projects we never got around to doing that all of a sudden we had to do.  And then there was the basement.  Ever since we moved into that house we talked about finishing it.  I had big plans for it and even picked out a color scheme.  Well, that was another thing we never got around to finishing.  We did start.  We had the studs up and the electric was done, it was even insulated.  But that is where we stopped.  So now, we had to finish it before selling the house.  If we were going to continue living there, we would have put down carpet, but since we needed it done fast and as inexpensive as possible, we decided to paint the basement floors.  I thought we would do something like THIS, but to save time we just ended up painting the floors a single shade of brown.  With area rugs on top, it didn't look half bad.  But I digress.  Back to the issue of the stairs.  Since the idea of carpeting the stairs was out, and I thought just painting the stairs looked a bit cheap, I headed over to Pinterest for some ideas.  It didn't take me long to realize what I wanted to do.  And it looked so upscale, not like we were being cheap at all. 

Here is what we started with.  Plain, unfinished wood stairs.  

The first thing I did was to tape off the stair treads and then stain them.  I made sure to skip some so I could still walk up and down the stairs.

I chose this dark brown stain because I wanted it to match the dark brown wood floors in the foyer leading to the basement steps.  I was hoping it would all blend in and it did.

I started at the top and worked my way down, leaving every 3rd step unstained so I would be able to walk back up.  In the picture below you can see two steps that are taped off so we don't walk on them.  They are two I didn't stain with the rest so that we could still walk up and down the stairs.  After staining them I put a clear coat of polyurethane on them so they'd be nice and durable.  The ones that are taped off still have wet poly on them since they were done last.  Oh, and I also stained the handrail.  

After all the steps were dry, I taped them off so I could paint the risers.  Before painting the risers, I filled in any nail holes with some wood putty.

I thought going from the unfinished wood to a rich stain made such a difference, but painting the risers white made an even more dramatic difference.  I loved it!

Another thing  we did which isn't shown was to add trim to the top of the risers on the sides to give it a more finished look.  I also caulked the seams from the sides of the risers to the molding so it looked more professional.  I didn't take pictures of that but you can see in the 'pre-caulk' photos, that there is a little gap on the sides.

Our stairs turned part way down so we had this landing.  It was particle board so we put some thin veneer wood on top and stained that to match too.  I forgot to take pictures of that, so just use your imagination.  

Here is the before and after shot.

I totally love it and would consider doing this to a house I planned to stay in.  I really like the stained stair look, and it was pretty quick and easy to do.  It took several days just because of drying time but it only took about few hours total to complete the project.

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DIY Valentine's Day Wood Conversation Heart Wall Hanging

I've been wanting to make these wooden conversation hearts for a while now.  Three years to be exact.  Go ahead and read THIS POST to refresh your memory, I'll wait.  

Well, I finally got around to doing it.  Earlier this summer I found some wooden heart plaques, I wasn't even looking for them.  Every other time I happened to be at a craft store and happened to remember to look for the wooden hearts, I couldn't find them so of course I had to get them.

The first step was to paint the hearts in pastel colors.  I used some of the acrylic paint my daughter got for Christmas and added some white to it so it would be lighter.

Then, I used my Silhouette machine to cut out the names in a dark pink vinyl.

I was on a roll and did this much in two days.  Then, I couldn't find the staple gun.  So my progress came to a halt.  Finally I took the time to really look for it and there it was, neatly put away with the rest of the tools in the garage.  For some reason I thought it would have been left out with the last staple gun project which, by the way, is still unfinished and sitting in the basement.  

After a two week hiatus for this project, I picked up where I left off by stapling some wide ribbon to the back of each wooden heart.  I used dark pink ribbon to match the vinyl letters.

Then I doubled over the top of the ribbon and put a key chain type ring on it so I could hang it.  

I didn't want the ring to show so I prettied it up with a bow made out of the same ribbon.

In my original post about wanting to make these wooden hearts, I thought I would hang them in the foyer.  Then I realized that might look weird since I don't have any other Valentine's Day decor in there.  So I decided to hang on the wall next to my fireplace since the mantel is where all my Valentine decor is.  

This is the before picture of that wall.  I just took down the two pictures and hung the hearts from the top nail.  

The ribbon and hearts cover up the bottom nail so it all looks nice, and not too low for little ones to pull at.

Here's the Valentine decor on the mantle.  In the original post I mentioned how I wanted to make a cute heart banner.  Well, I never got around to making that but I did find this pre-made heart banner at an after Valentine's Day clearance.

I still display the 'You & Me' sign, which is just a gift bag I put into a frame (you can read all about that in THIS POST), and the infinite love block I made in THIS POST.

I still haven't made the LOVE blocks, but I did add this LOVE sign.  It's just a thin wooden LOVE key glued onto a card stock frame.

From this angle you can see all the Valentine decor.  

  

What Valentine crafts have you made?  Link up in the comments below.

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